Hot tops with spring clip engaging means on inner surfaces of abutting slabs

ABSTRACT

Hot tops of two or four thin slabs are described which are held in place by U-shaped spring clips, biasing opposite or adjacent slabs away from one another and serving to wedge the slabs tightly against the walls of the head box or ingot mould top.

United States Patent 1 Witt [ 1 July 17, 1973 HOT TOPS WITH SPRING CLIP ENGAGING MEANS ON INNER SURFACES OF ABUTTING SLABS [76] Inventor: George R. Witt, Post Office Box 8728, Lakewood, Ohio 44132 [22] Filed: Apr. 8, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 132,588

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 723,410. Apr. 23, 1968,

which is a continuation-impart of Ser. No. 680,885, June 6, 1967, abandoned.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,307,973 6/1919 Hester 4. 287/2092 D 2,394,702 2/1946 Lindsay.... 287/2092 D X 3,162,913 12/1964 Witt 249/197 3,421,731 1/1969 Koch et 249/197 Primary Examiner-Robcrt D. Baldwin Attorney-Wolfe, Hubbard, Leydig, Voit & Osann [57] ABSTRACT Hot tops of two or four thin slabs are described which are held in place by U-shaped spring clips, biasing opposite or adjacent slabs away from one another and serving to wedge the slabs tightly against the walls of the head box or ingot mould top.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENEEU JUL 1 71915 PMENFED JUL 1 7 I975 SHEET 2 0F 3 'PATENEED JUL 1 7191s 3, 745,29

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HOT TOPS WITH SPRING CLIP ENGAGING MEANS ON INNER SURFACES OF ABUTTING SLABS RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation in part of my copending application Ser. No. 680,885 filed Nov. 6, 1967, now abandoned.

This invention relates to hot topping ingot moulds, and particularly to means for positioning hot top lining slabs easily and securely in the top of an ingot mould, or in a head box for such a mould.

In my previous application, now issued as US Pat. No. 3,162,913, a method of holding thick interlocking lining slabs is described, and hot tops of particular construction are claimed. In this patent, the lining slabs constituting the hot top are urged by spring clips against the walls of ingot mould or head box by means of U-shaped spring clips which are fitted into the body of such slab, and extend thereinto.

In recent years there have come into use for making up hot tops heat insulating and/or exothermic slabs of comparatively far less thickness, owing to their improved exothermic or heat-insulating properties. Support of such slabs to form hot tops has long been a problem in the foundry art and many and varied solutions to this problem have been proposed.

One of the best known and most widely used solutions is the expedient of knocking tapered wedges of 7 heat insulating or exothermic material between adjacent slabs thereof, thereby urging said slabs apart and in turn against the mould or head box walls. This method has, however, certain disadvantages: there is a necessity for forming the wedges of exothermic or heat insulating material of such strength that they can be hammered in firmly; careful positioning of the principal slabs forming the hot top is necessary prior to driving the wedge-shaped pieces therebetween in order to avoid on the one hand the wedge falling through the gap between adjacent slabs, and subsequently needing to be retrieved, and on the other the inability of the wedge-shaped piece, even to enter the inter-slab gap if such gap is too small.

If my previous invention, the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,913, were to be utilized to solve this problem extreme difficulties would occur in practice due to the relative sizes of slab and spring clip, since the reduction in slab thickness where the clip was inserted into the slab would lead to excessive mechanical weakness of the slabs.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means for quickly and easily setting up a hot top of the relatively thin slabs above referred to, and to provide hot tops so produced.

This object is primarily attained by the use of U shaped spring clips, which clips are stored ready for use in a condition in which the arms are pulled toward one another by a readily severable tie. This tie is thus tensioned by the U-shaped spring clip and on severance of the tie the arms of the U tend to move outward from one another. When used with a hot top employing four slabs, the spring clips are inserted in engagement means positioned adjacent each comer of the hot top. One leg of a clip is positioned in the engagement means of one slab adjacent a particular comer while the other leg is inserted into the engagement means of the slab on the other side of the corner. With the four clips in position adjacent each corner, the four slabs are biased outwardly away from one another and against the walls of the mould.

The use of this clip device greatly facilitates hot topping of ingot moulds, as will be clear from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of one corner of the head of an ingot mould to be hot topped with four slabs, two of which are shown in position, and in accordance with the preferred embodiment of this invention, illustrating the use of substantially S-shaped edge clips as the engagement means for the U-shaped spring clips;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the corner of the head shown in FIG. I and showing a U- shaped clip in position and biasing the slabs against the walls of the ingot mould;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and further illustrating the positioning of the edge clips relative to the slabs and the head of the ingot mould;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a S-shaped edge clip in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of one corner of the head of the ingot mould as shown in FIG. I and illustrating a further embodiment of this invention wherein the engagement means for the spring clips are staples;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view as in FIG. 5 and showing a spring clip in position; and

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view through the two broader walls of an ingot mould and illustrating use of the present invention to hold the opposing slabs of a two-slab hot top in position.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way ,of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed,

but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the ap- A U-shaped spring clip 4, held in position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 by a wire tie 5, is pushed downward until the wire tie 5 rests on the edge clip 3. When all four U-shaped clips 4 (one at each comer) are in position, the wire ties 5 are cut; and the spring clips 4 expand to urge the slabs 2 outwardly against the mould walls. The edge clip 3 may suitably be made from a mild steel strip.

More specifically, and as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, each edge clip 3 includes a central leg 6 and legs 7 and 8 depending from the opposing ends thereof to form a substantially S-shape. The distance between legs 6 and 7 is preferably dimensionedto generally correspond to the thickness of the slab 2. Also, the distance between legs 6 and 8 is desirably slightly larger than the diameter of the spring clip 4, indicated by d in FIG. 4, so that the spring clip 4 can easily slide between these legs. The length of the legs 7 and 8 can be varied as desired. A length of one to two inches for the leg 7 has been found to be suitable for most applications while the leg 8 may be up to twice as long as leg.7 or more.

Referring particularly to FIG. 3, a notch 9 adjacent the edge of the slab 2 may be formed to allow the edge clip 3 to be easily positioned. The leg 7 is inserted between the outside edge of the slab 2, indicated at 10, and the inner wall of the mould I. The leg 8 extends toward the corner of the mould and forms a seat as shown at l l for the spring clip 4. When the wire ties are cut, the U-shaped clips 4 expand urging the edge clip 3 away from the comer of the mould and toward the inward extent of the notch, as at 12. This, in turn, urges the slabs 2 against the walls of the mould l.

A further embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, wherein the engagement means for the spring clips comprise staples. The numerals used in connection with the first described embodiment have been retained where no change has been made. Thus, the corner of an ingot mould l is lined with two slabs 2. Each of the slabs 2 have wire staples l4 affixed to the slab faces as shown.

These staples may be twisted to their operative position as shown in FIG. 6 and the spring clip 4 inserted therein. The spring clip is held in the position shown in FIG. 6 by the wire tie S. The clip 4 is pushed downward until the wire tie rests on the staples 13. When all four such clips (one at each corner), are in position, the

wire ties are cut, and the spring clips expand to urge the slabs outwardly against the mould walls.

In the construction of two slab hot tops, as shown in FIG. '7, the engagement means for the spring clips are eliminated and the U-shaped spring clips are used to urge the opposed slabs away from one another and against the mould or head box walls. In order to assemble the two slab hot-top of FIG. 7, the slabs 2 are positioned in the mould l as shown and held temporarily by any convenient means. Clip 4 is then lowered to the desired level and'tie 5 severed, whereupon the arms of the clip spring against the slabs v2 and urge them tightly against the walls of the mould 1. Generally, two such clips only are necessary for two slab hot-topping, though for moulds and head boxes having a high length to breadth ratio, three or even four such clips may sometimes be used.

I claim as my invention:

I. For use in an ingot mould a hot top comprising four slabs arranged substantially in abutment to constitute a sleeve, a U-shaped spring clip, having two legs, associated with each of two abutting slabs, and S- shaped edge clip engagement means associated with each slab and located towards each abutting edge on the inner surface thereof and each adapted to engage a leg of a U-shaped spring clip, the said legs of each spring clip being outwardly biased when said legs are held parallel, whereby each spring clip when inserted in said S-shaped edge clip engagement means so that the one leg of each clip is engaged with each of the S- shaped edge clip engagement means in each of two abutting slabs, the four slabs are biased outwardly from one another.

2. For use in an ingot mould a hot top comprising four slabs arranged substantially in abutment to constitute a sleeve, a U-shaped spring clip, having two legs, associated with each of two abutting slabs, and engage ment means comprising staples driven into each slab and located towards each abutting edge on the inner surface thereof and each adapted to engage a leg of a U-shaped spring clip, the said legs of each spring clip being outwardly biased when said legs are held parallel, whereby, each spring clip when inserted in said staples so that the one leg of each clip is engaged with each of the staples in each of two abutting slabs, the four slabs are biased outwardly from one another.

3. For use in an ingot mould, a hot top comprising four slabs arranged substantially in abutment to constitute a sleeve, four U-shaped spring clip means each having two legs, the legs being outwardly biased when held parallel, and S-shaped edge clip engagement meansassociated with each slab and located towards each abutting edge, each engagement means including a central portion abutting the inner surface of the slab with which it is associated, an integral first leg spaced from the central portion to position the slab therebetween and an integral second leg spaced from the central portion to form a seat for one of the legs of the U- shaped spring clip means, the legs of a U-shaped spring clip means being seated in the engagement means associated with adjacent abutting slabs and the spring clip means outwardly biasing the slabs from one another.

4. The hot top of claim 3 wherein each slab has a notch adjacent each edge to accommodate the insertion of the first leg of the S-shaped edge clip means. 

1. For use in an ingot mould a hot top comprising four slabs arranged substantially in abutment to constitute a sleeve, a Ushaped spring clip, having two legs, associated with each of two abutting slabs, and S-shaped edge clip engagement means associated with each slab and located towards each abutting edge on the inner surface thereof and each adapted to engage a leg of a U-shaped spring clip, the said legs of each spring clip being outwardly biased when said legs are held parallel, whereby each spring clip when inserted in said S-shaped edge clip engagement means so that the one leg of each clip is engaged with each of the S-shaped edge clip engagement means in each of two abutting slabs, the four slabs are biased outwardly from one another.
 2. For use in an ingot mould a hot top comprising four slabs arranged substantially in abutment to constitute a sleeve, a U-shaped spring clip, having two legs, associated with each of two abutting slabs, and engagement means comprising staples driven into each slab and located towards each abutting edge on the inner surface thereof and each adapted to engage a leg of a U-shaped spring clip, the said legs of each spring clip being outwardly biased when said legs are held parallel, whereby, each spring clip when inserted in said staples so that the one leg of each clip is engaged with each of the staples in each of two abutting slabs, the four slabs are biased outwardly from one another.
 3. For use in an ingot mould, a hot top comprising four slabs arranged substantially in abutment to constitute a sleeve, four U-shaped spring clip means each having two legs, the legs being outwardly biased when held parallel, and S-shaped edge clip engagement means associated with each slab and located towards each abutting edge, each engagement means including a central portion abutting the inner surface of the slab with which it is associated, an integral first leg spaced from the centrAl portion to position the slab therebetween and an integral second leg spaced from the central portion to form a seat for one of the legs of the U-shaped spring clip means, the legs of a U-shaped spring clip means being seated in the engagement means associated with adjacent abutting slabs and the spring clip means outwardly biasing the slabs from one another.
 4. The hot top of claim 3 wherein each slab has a notch adjacent each edge to accommodate the insertion of the first leg of the S-shaped edge clip means. 